When Life Begins Again

Chapter Six

I arrive at Clover’s on time.

Rose was standing outside the restaurant waiting for me. She looked dazed as she stared into space.

I nudged her shoulder and said, “Hey Rose, I’m here.”

Rose’s eyes came back to life as she brought her focus onto me. Smiling, she said, “hey gorgeous, I’m glad you could make it.”

“Me too, I’m starving. How about you? Let’s head inside,” I told her as I opened the door to go in.

Rose walked in while I held the door and said, “Actually, now that I’m thinking about it I am pretty friggin hungry.”

I step into the restaurant and let the door close behind me.

We’re immediately greeted by a beautiful young lady, she introduced herself and led us to our table where we sat and waited for our waiter.

“How was your first day out so far?” I ask her, trying to start a conversation.

She looked over at me and said, “It’s been great. This place is great. I’m glad you could meet up with me for lunch. I can’t wait to see the park with you after lunch. I didn’t want to go there without you so I just wandered about till it came time to meet you here. I think I showed up sooner than I was supposed to. I ended up spacing out staring around at people and looking at the sky.

Just then a man comes up to our table and clears his throat. “Good afternoon ladies, my name is Gerald and I will be your server today. What could I start you off with to drink?” he asked us.

“I’ll just have some water. And I’ll get the same thing I ordered yesterday to eat. I really loved it,” I told him.

Gerald smiled and wrote down my order. “I’m glad you loved it. It’s one of my favorites too.”

“I’ll have the same thing,” Rose tells him, closing her menu without bothering to look at it.

“Alright, are you sure?” Gerald asked before writing anything down.

“I’m sure Gerald, I trust Annabelle and would like to try what she seems to love,” Rose tells him with a smile.

“Okay. If you’re sure. Then I’ll get two orders of the house special. And I’ll be right back with a glass of water for each of you,” Gerald said as he wrote out the order on his pad. Then he turned and left the table, forgetting to take our menu’s.

“So, that’s the cute guy you were talking about?” Rose asks me.

I smirked over at her and said, “Yes, but I’m not interested in him. I just think he’s a sweet guy and looks nice. But you’re not into that right?”

Rose smiles at me, saying, “Right. I like ladies, not men. But I could see the appeal in that guy. I’m sure he has a girlfriend though. What exactly is the house special?”

“It’s Alfredo pasta with a side of garlic bread sprinkled with fresh parmesan cheese. It’s really good. I could eat it forever,” I tell her with a smile.

She stares across the table at me with lust in her eyes. “You have the most beautiful sounding voice I have ever heard. I could listen to you talk all day long,” she tells me while smiling.

Gerald places two glasses of water down on the table in front of Rose and I. “Your meal will be ready shortly until then enjoy some complementary bread,” he says, placing a plate with thick slices of bread down on the table and some butter. He smiles at the two of us then nods.

I pick up the menus. “Thank you Gerald, please take the menu’s as you forgot them when you left the first time,” I tell him as I hand him the menus.

Gerald looked embarrassed for a moment then shook it off and said, “My apologize, I will take those from you.” He grabbed the menus then went on his way.

“He must have a lot on his mind today,” I say, speaking more to myself than anyone else. I turn back to look at Rose and say, “Rose, you need to get over this crush you seem to have on me. I only see you as a friend, nothing more. I don’t have anything against same s*x relationships but I’m not interested in women that way. I’m all for men.”

She sighs and looks down at her hands. “I know. I figured that out last night when I kissed you. I can’t help how I feel about you. You’re a special kind of person and I want to shine in your light. I’m sorry I can’t turn it off like a light switch. I wish I could. I really do. If anything I’d be happy to just be your friend,” she tells me, pulling her hand up to play with her slightly curled hair.

I grabbed a piece of bread off the plate and spread butter over top of it with my knife. The bread was still warm so the butter melted onto it. “It’s okay to have feelings for me as long as those feelings don't turn into longing. I can’t be friends with someone that sees me as more than a friend,” I told her, taking a bite of my bread.

Rose looked up at my face then looked down to the bread and grabbed her piece, doing the same as me and then put it into her mouth. “Mhmm, this is so good,” she tells me, taking another bite. “I was so hungry. I forgot to eat breakfast so this is the first thing I’ve eaten today.”

I smirked over at the faces she was making of pure pleasure and enjoyment. She really loves that piece of buttered bread. But I did too. I took another bite of my bread, chewing it slowly.

Gerald comes back over and puts our plates in front of us. “Your pasta and garlic bread with fresh parmesan sprinkled over top of it. Let me know if there’s anything else you ladies need. I’ll be coming by momentarily to check up on everything,” he tells us. Smiles and the walks away.

“You’re a beautiful woman Rose, just like a flower. I’m sure that there’s someone out there that will love you in the way that you need to be loved,” I tell her as a pick up my fork and swirl some pasta around it.

Rose eyed the food sitting in front of her. It looked like a lot but it was just enough. “Thanks Annabelle, for saying so. I sometimes feel ugly and think that I’ll never find love. Especially with the way we’re living now,” she tells me.

“Anyone can be beautiful even if they’re born ugly. When you’re a beautiful person on the inside it shows your beauty on the outside. And I believe that you’re both kinds of beautiful. Don’t let our situation stop you from believing in your worth,” I told her as I began eating my pasta.

Suddenly my surroundings changed and I was in the club, something was happening. A man jumped up onto the stage and grabbed at me. Rose tried pushing him off me and he flung her across the stage. She was thrown into the wall and knocked out. Angelia came over trying to help and he threw her off the stage, she landed on the ground and her neck snapped. I gasped in horror, shocked at all that had occurred, the man pinned me down and covered my mouth. You’re mine now, he whispered as he stuck his other hand up the bottom of my dress. Dalia got out a gun and shot at him. The bullet went right through his head and he fell on top of me, blood spilling out over the top of my dress. He was dead. People started running out of the club and the other girls rushed over to where Angelia had been thrown off the stage. My vision cleared and I was back in the restaurant. I felt tears coming from my eyes and I dropped my fork onto my plate.

Rose looked over at me from her food and saw the shocked expression of sadness on my face. She was startled by the sound of my fork dropping. “What’s wrong Annabelle? Did something happen? She asked me, sounding concerned.

I bring my hand to my face and quickly wipe away my tears. “Nothing happened Rose. I’m fine. I just need to make sure what I saw doesn’t happen. That can’t happen…” I say out loud, partly in response to Rose’s question. I pick my fork back up and go back to eating my lunch.

“What did you see? You were staring blankly into space and weren’t responding to anything I said to you,” she told me.

“Nothing, I didn’t see anything. Just eat your food and let’s go to the park before we have to head back to that place,” I told her. She doesn’t need to know my gift of visions. It’s more trouble then it is good. I often have to see things that I can’t control. Right now I wish I could talk with Daniel. He knows about my visions. Not that he could really do anything. I don’t even know when this will take place.

Rose looks concerned. She continues eating her food as she watches me. “I feel like you’re keeping something from me and you’re not being honest,” she tells me.

I sighed and said, “There’s things about myself that I don’t feel I should tell people. I don’t want people to know this about me. Could you please just leave it alone,” I tell her. It wouldn’t do any good for her to know. I don’t even know when that vision will take place. It was a week between my last vision coming true and when my parents were killed it happened that day. I get a sense of urgency in dire times when I can feel that it’s happening right now or soon. This vision was unsure, as if something could make it not happen at all.

Rose eyed me curiously and said, “Okay Annabelle, I’ll accept that for now. But I expect you to have more trust in me as time goes by.”

Gerald comes back over and asks us how our meal is going and if we needed anything. We told him that everything was to our liking and that we didn’t need anything else. He smiled, talked a bit then left the table.

“Thank you Rose for understanding,” I told her. I then focused solely on eating my food, and taking a drink of water between eating.

Twenty minutes later we finished up and left the restaurant. Rose and I hadn’t said a word to each other since my vision.

I looked around the area and spotted a crosswalk. I lead Rose to the crosswalk and directed her to the park across the street.

Rose looked around the park in amazement and wonder. “This place is so beautiful,” she tells me, walking further into the park. The expression on her face was what I imagined mine was when I came here yesterday.

“It sure is. I feel at peace when I’m here,” I told her, smiling at the trees and scenery.

Rose sat down on the bench under the willow tree and ushered me over to her. “Come sit with me,” she said.

I walked over, smiling at the scenery. Then I sit down on the opposite end of the bench and look up at the tree coming down over us.

“Okay Annabelle, you need to talk to me. I get that there’s things you feel you can’t talk to other people about but you can trust me. I’m your friend and I like you a lot more than that. Which I know you don’t want but I can promise you that I won’t try anything with you,” Rose tells me, moving closer.

I take in some air and let it out slowly. I then turn my attention to Rose and say, “It’s not really something that I like telling people. I understand how you feel about me and I’m flattered and happy to be your friend. But this is something I have to keep to myself. Just one thing though…” I look down at my hands and continue, “If someone comes after me when I’m on stage at any time, don’t try to help me. And make sure that none of the other girls do either. Dalia can protect us from anyone trying to take us or harm us. But she can’t stop bad things from happening if you try to help.”

Rose moved back a bit in surprise and said, “Why would you say that?”

“Just trust what I say and everything will be okay,” I told her while looking over at her shocked expression.

Noticing my seriousness Rose decided to believe in what I was telling her. “Okay Annabelle. I see how serious you are and I’m inclined to believe you and trust that you know what you’re saying. I haven’t the slightest clue. It all sounds like non sense to me. But maybe it’ll come clear to me at some point. Maybe then you’ll tell me about it,” she tells me, looking out at the people going about their day.

I smile, happy that she’s accepted without question. Now she’ll let it go. And that awful scene I witnessed won’t come to pass. I look up at the sky and smile at the beautiful look of it.

“What was life like for you before you were taken?” Rose asked me suddenly.

I look off into the distance and think about it. I’ve been here for a bit over a week now. It feels like so much longer than that. “Well I just graduated high school so I was working part time while helping my parents with my brother and sister. I wanted to go to secondary school but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life yet. I was working at a clothing store in the mall. They’re probably wondering what happened to me as I never missed any work while I was there. I really miss my brother and sister. I wish my parents hadn’t been brutally murdered by those men…” I told her, remembering the vision I had gotten of their death. I shook my head, that wasn’t an image I wanted to remember and I hated having to see it.

“I’m sorry… I never meant to remind you of your loss. I was just curious what life was like for you before this,” she tells me, reaching her hand out to touch mine.

I look over at her and say, “It’s okay Rose, I know you didn’t mean anything bad by it. I was happy. I had a boyfriend all throughout high school but he cheated on me with my best friend so I broke up with him. He told me it didn’t mean anything and that she came on to him. I dropped her as a friend too. I didn’t need friends that would steal my boyfriend. And she told me that they had been together for all of our grad year. I was heartbroken and really pissed off. Part of me wanted to get away so I decided to look into schools out of town. In the end it didn’t matter cause I was taken from my home. All that happened back in February, before we graduated. I didn’t bother going to prom even though I really wanted to. I didn’t want to see my ‘best friend’ with my ex boyfriend.”

“Wow, what a bunch of jerks. You didn’t deserve that Annabelle. Not one bit. I would never do that to you. Not ever. They didn’t deserve you either. He was an ass and she was a b***h. It sounds like she was just using you to get to your boyfriend. I’m sorry that happened to you. But I guess that’s nothing compared to what happened a week ago,” Rose tells me, caressing my hand.

I pull my hand away and say, “Right. But that’s the passed and I try not to dwell in it. I’ll look to the future and hope for the best.”

“How old are you Annabelle? You said you just graduated this year so you must be 18. I’m 17, I’m supposed to graduate next year,” Rose tells me.

I look over at her and smile. “I’m 17 right now but my birthday is August 8th so I’ll be 18 next month in 28 days,” I told her.

She quickly moves closer to me on the bench looking a bit disappointed and says, “Aw, that means you’re a year older than me. I thought for sure we were the same age. I had my birthday in June on the 13th. But I’m still happy to be friends with you.” She then smiles and takes my hand into hers.

I pull my hand away from her and say, “It’s quite alright to have older and younger friends. I was friends with my next-door neighbour, and she is 10 years older than me. I met her when I was twelve years old. She’s a very sweet woman. And she’s beautiful. She was 22 when I met her. She had bought her first house. Her parents bought it for her as a starter home. She put some money into it, and they paid the rest. She’s 38 years old now and she has two kids, twin girls. I baby sat them sometimes when her and her husband went on dates. They’re ten years old now, or they will be. They were born in September on the 20th. They look just like their mother, dirty blonde hair with ringlet curls and deep blue eyes with slightly tanned skin. She dated a bunch of different guys till she met Wayne, it was like love at first sight for her. She told me that she was sitting at a bar table with a group of her friends then in walks this big burly lumberjack looking man with light brown hair, she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. As soon as he saw her, he smiled widely. He’s a sweet man and a wonderful father. They got married a year after meeting and had their daughters two years later. Instead of moving into another home they decided to add on to the one she already had.” I stopped talking, realising that I had gotten away with myself, talking about Hannah. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on about Hannah like that,” I tell her feeling my cheeks turn red with embarrassment.

Rose smiles at me and says, “What was her daughter’s names? It’s quite alright. I love hearing you talk. And you seem to love these people. You sounded joyful talking about them.”

“Oh, well if you’re okay with it then I guess it’s alright. Hannah’s daughters are named Lily and Rosalia. They adore their father. Now that I’m thinking about them all, I miss them,” I tell her, feeling a wave of sadness wash over me.

Rose slides beside me and wraps me into a hug, rubbing my back in a soothing way. “I know it sucks and I’m sure they miss you too and are wondering where you’ve gone to. Maybe someday you’ll see them again,” she tells me, trying to make me feel better.

“Thanks Rose. We should be heading back so we don’t miss curfew,” I told her, pulling away from the hug and standing up.

Rose watched me lustfully as I pulled away from her then stood up next to me and said, “Okay. I guess I’ll head back with you as you know what you’re doing more than I do.” She reaches out for my hand.

I move passed her and walk towards our prison. We might not have bars and we’re free to roam for a period of time but, it is a prison as we’re not free to leave whenever we want, and we must do whatever we’re told, or we get punished or worse, killed. This isn’t a life that anyone would choose, not willingly away.

Rose ran up beside me as I had taken to speed walking. “Hey, what’s the rush?” She asked me, trying to keep up.

I slowed down my walking pace and said, “Sorry, I started thinking about stuff and got pissed off. I speed walk when I’m mad. I ran track in school, so I used to go for runs in the morning.”

“The more I learn about you, the more fascinating you become. Is there nothing you can’t do?” She asks me while smiling widely.

I walk over to the cross walk and push the button. “I suck at math, but I still managed to pass my math classes. Anything else I’m not sure of. I try to do my best no matter what I’m doing,” I tell her. The cars come to a stop, and I cross the street.

Rose follows me and doesn’t say another word.

“Did you run out of things to say to me?” I asked her, walking along.

She smirks and says, “Not really, I just was shocked and didn’t know how to respond. You’re this incredible person and I never would have met you if all this s**t hadn’t happened to us. It’s very annoying when you think about it.”

“I get what you mean. I met someone I never would have met if I hadn’t been kidnapped and forced to work for Dalia. It was just like how Hannah met Wayne but different,” I tell her, smiling at the memory.

Rose stops me from walking and turns me to face her looking shocked she says, “Wait, what? You met someone and fell in love at the first site of them? And you’re just telling me this now?”

I look around and see that we’re getting closer to our prison then I grab hold of her and pull her into an alleyway out of sight from the building we're being held captive. “Yes, I’m sorry. That’s why I didn’t want to go out with you this morning. I was meeting up with him at the place where we first met yesterday. I didn’t know if I could trust you and I didn’t want Dalia finding out about him,” I told her in a hushed tone.

“Annabelle, you can trust me completely. I would never tell that woman anything. I hate her guts,” Rose tells me, sounding hurt.

“I understand that Rose, I just needed to be sure. People can be hard to trust but you seem sincere. I know you don’t like men, but he’s so hot Rose. Sometimes I can’t even believe that he feels the same way about me, but he does. He held me in his arms today and I could’ve just melted away. He’s like a dream that I don’t want to wake up from. And he wants to help me,” I told her quietly in an excited tone.

Rose stares into my eyes unsure of what to say. “Wow Annabelle. That’s crazy. Do you think he could help me too?” She asks me.

“Maybe. I can ask him tomorrow when I meet up with him. But I can’t see why not unless he doesn’t have the space. Why don’t you come with me tomorrow and meet him. But you can’t tell anyone about this or him,” I tell her.

Rose nods her head, standing up straight and says, “Okay, I understand.”

“Good, now let’s head back before someone comes looking for us and forbids us from leaving for a while,” I tell her while heading back out onto the sidewalk.

Rose follows me and quietly walks beside me.

We finally reach the entrance to our prison and both sigh before walking inside.

I push open the door and walk over to the elevator.

Rose follows along behind me.

Once inside I push the button for the 3rd floor and Rose presses for the 4th floor. They had put her on the floor above mine because she was a more difficult person to deal with.

The elevator came to a stop and i waved goodbye to Rose then stepped off to my floor and walked over to my door. I was ready for this week to be over. I unlock my door and go inside, closing the door behind me. Hopefully Rose doesn’t screw me over and turn me into Dalia. I don’t think she will, especially if she has a chance to get away. And she really seems to like me. I toss my bag into the corner of my room then I walk over to my bed and lay down. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.